From Timid Girl to Asian Champion!

Shy and timid, Buyannemekh never thought that she would excel in martial arts and become Asian Champion one day. Her incredible journey began when her friend Narandari first took her to taekwondo classes of World Vision Mongolia’s Bayankhoshuu programme area back in 2010.

Buyannemekh lives with her parents, and two sisters in small ger, a traditional Mongolian shelter, in the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar. Before taking taekwondo lessons, she had never tried pursuing any sports.

“My best friend started training at "Munkh khukh suld”, a taekwondo club, and she suggested that I try it out with her. The very first day I went there, I liked it so much that I decided to stay and learn taekwondo actively” recalled Buyannemekh beaming.

Buyannemekh was such an outstanding student, just after two months of training, with her teachers’ encouragement she decided to participate in her first ever martial arts competition: State Martial Arts Championship. Not only she was able to show her teachers and family what she had learned so far, she even won the gold medal.

“In August 2010, I took part in Teens Taekwondo World Championship held in Minsk, Belarus which was my first biggest competition where I won a bronze medal. I was really happy and felt wonderful. But it wasn't just me, but also my parents, teachers and friends” shared Buyannemekh, with a spark in her beautiful brown eyes.

She usually trains three times a week off-season, for 2 hours after her classes finish. When she has big competition coming, she trains every day. Buyannemekh believes that through sports children can influence their peers positively by setting good example of integrity, consistency, hard work, and above all, hope that one can discover their talents if they try new things regardless of their status.

“I was physically very weak when I was little. Now I am strong physically and I became someone more confident in myself. I want to thank World Vision, because I was able to join the Taekwondo club, which was an opportunity for me to discover my talent. I never imagined that I would accomplish such big achievements” expressed Buyannemekh.

Through sports, she was able to determine her future goal and wants to study physical education in college. She is now one step closer to her goal of becoming World Taekwondo Champion, with a gold medal from Asian Taekwondo Championships from Kathmandu, Nepal already in hand.